


It's Easy With You

by mollieblack



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute, Drinking, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, No Angst, Party, Phanfiction, Reality, Slow Build, Slow Burn, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-01 19:18:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11492952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollieblack/pseuds/mollieblack
Summary: Fake Relationship set at a YouTuber retreat where no technology is allowed





	1. Chapter One

**(Phil's POV)**

Why had I agreed to attend this?

I looked around the dark room filled with moving bodies, lights flashing lowly, music blaring, drinks in everyone's hands. 

I was on some private island in the middle of the Caribbean with no phone, no camera, no computer, for days. At the time it'd sounded fun - a YouTuber retreat, get to hang out with a bunch of fellow YouTubers and not have to worry about anything being vlogged, playing games and relaxing on the beach, taking some time off to get to know the other people in this community.  _Everyone_ was going.

Now I realized just how much I was regretting this, and when a girl who I didn't recognize with long black hair came up and draped her arms on my shoulders, trying to dance, I squirmed out of her grasp.

"C'mon dude, you don't wanna dance?" She slurred, looking up at me through dark eyelashes. I grimaced. Sure she was pretty, her hair was long and flowing, her eyes piercing under the dark makeup, her lips tinted red as if with blood, and she was tall enough that I didn't loom over her. I didn't care, however. I had no interest in hooking up with some stranger - or anyone for that matter at this retreat - so I just shook my head and continued looking through the crowd, trying to make out a familiar face. 

They must have invited a lot of smaller YouTubers as well, because I had a hard time picking out people I recognized, and when I did I still generally didn't know their names, just remembered seeing them pop up in a YouTuber's react or something. 

"Why not?" She asked, stopping her swaying now, looking at me angrily. "You gay?" she demanded and I shook my head in surprise.

"No! No... bi." I don't know why I didn't say yes. I also didn't know why I told her the truth. I didn't really announce my sexuality to people often, especially not to strangers. I internally slapped myself, realizing that I should have just said I was gay, maybe she would have left me alone.

"Oh... well then, why don't we get some drinks?" She grinned, clearly eye-fucking me, and I grimaced. She grabbed my wrist and led me to the bar and I followed reluctantly. I'd always had this problem, I was far too polite. I had such a hard time saying no to people, so I allowed her to pull me along and grab two drinks from the bartender, shoving one towards me and downing hers. 

We sat at the bar and she downed three more as I slowly nursed my own drink, looking around desperately, trying to find someone, _anyone_ I recognized. 

When her hand found my knee I tensed but I didn't pull away, once again far too polite for my own good. 

When her fingers began working their way up my thigh, squeezing as they went I asked her to stop and she stood up off her stool, making her way forward until she stood between my knees, hands on both my thighs now, leaning in close to my ear to whisper. 

"Why? You can't really want me to stop. Why don't we get out of here, my room has a  _very_ comfortable bed." she whispered in a low, sultry voice. 

I shrank back, and then jumped when I felt an arm drape over my shoulder and a body come up to me, pressed against my side. 

"Hey babe, what's going on here?" the voice snapped me out of my frozen terror and I melted in relief, looking over with a hugely grateful smile at my best friend, flat mate, and business partner, Dan Howell. 

"Hey. Um... I was just thinking about how much I want to go dance." I didn't miss how the girl pulled her hands away from me and pulled back a few feet, glaring at Dan. 

"So... what? Is this your boyfriend?" She asked in disgust and I looked to Dan with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes. Yes he's my boyfriend and I'd very much appreciate if you'd leave both of us alone now." Dan addressed her now, voice sharp and dangerous. She huffed air out of her nose in annoyance and ordered another drink from the bartender as Dan took my wrist in his hand, leading me gently to the dance floor where a slow song was playing. He looked back and I followed his gaze to see that the girl was glaring at us over the rim of her glass. 

Dan put his hands gently on my waist and I wrapped my wrists around his neck, swaying slightly. 

"Well." he started, smiling slightly. "I guess we're boyfriends now. The internet finally gets what it wants." 

I giggled, leaning into his shoulder for a moment. "Thanks. She scared me! I didn't know how to get out of that, you saved me!" 

"What are friends for?" he asked with a smile and we continued swaying to the music. 

Of course I hadn't been able to find anyone I knew before when I needed them, but now that I was in a situation that I didn't really want lots of people to see due to the rumors it'd spread, people began popping up left and right. 

"Oh my GOODNESS, have y'all finally gotten together? I'll tell you, I called it! How long has it been?" came the familiar voice of Tyler Oakley, rattling off questions. I looked at Dan with worry and he just smiled, shaking his head. 

"No... no Tyler we're not together." 

"Bullshit! Come on, you can tell me! It's just little old me!" Tyler squeaked, holding his drink with both hands in close to his face with a huge smile. 

I looked back to where the girl at the bar was and saw her walking towards us then looked back at Dan, indicating her with my eyes so he saw. 

"Oh... uh... yeah okay. Yeah, we're together. Sorry it's just kinda new, we're not used to telling people." Dan said with a shy smile, and I was amazed, as always, at his acting skills. 

"Well you two are serious couple goals, I'm so glad you finally worked it all out!" Tyler gushed, sipping his drink. "And don't worry, my lips are sealed, the internet will never know!" Tyler grinned and I smiled back because I knew this was true. As much as YouTubers thrived off drama, there was a strong code amongst us all, and I knew that even if everyone here saw us dancing and heard we were together, no one would post it online. This was one thing I was extremely grateful for about the community. 

The girl with the long black hair curled her lip at us and brushed past, bumping me aggressively with her shoulder and grabbing some random drunk guy, starting to dance near us, glaring back consistently. Great. 

"Wow, she really hates us." Dan observed, smiling.

"Yeah... I dunno why." I mumbled, trying to look anywhere but towards her.

"You're just too irresistible, Phil." Dan joked and I rolled my eyes at him, then broke out in giggles. 

Just then, Zoe brushed past us and threw a little, "I'm happy for you two!" over her shoulder with a wink. 

Dan and I locked eyes and seemed to realize the situation at the same time. 

"Okay..." he started, sighing as we swayed side to side. "Well... I suppose we're dating now." he chuckled.

"I mean... it's only been a few strangers, Tyler, and Zoe. We could still do damage control." I suggested and he went to reply but was interrupted by a tackle from behind and two excited voices. 

"Finally!" Chris shouted excitedly, hugging us and forcing Dan and I so close we were smushed against each other. "My boys have admitted their true feelings!" his breath smelled rank. He was drunk.

PJ pulled him off after a second, shaking his head and laughing softly. "Come on Chris, sorry about that guys, we're happy for you." 

"Uh... thanks." I responded, putting a bit of space back between Dan and I. 

Jack and Dean were next, congratulating us followed by Tom, and then Louise, Joe, and Caspar. 

At least fifteen more YouTubers followed in a blur, and finally Dan took my hand and began walking. I looked up to see that we were heading towards the exit, but unfortunately to get there we'd have to pass by that girl.

Dan must have noticed this too, because just before getting to her he turned to me with a dangerous smile. 

"Let's get out of here, huh?" he asked lowly and I gulped, nodding, relishing secretly in the frown that covered the girl's face as we passed, leaving the party room and retreating to the hotels, taking the elevator to our floor and slipping into our quiet room. 

"I can hear again!" I breathed in relief, falling on my own queen bed as Dan laid on his right next to mine. 

"Yeah, why did we decide to do this again?" He asked with a laugh and I chuckled, shaking my head at the ridiculousness of this and how much had already gone wrong. 

"So..." I started, knowing we needed to talk about what had happened. "We're dating now." I stated, and both Dan and I cracked up, because this was ridiculous. 

"I suppose we are." he agreed, shaking his head. "That all just happened so fast!" 

"I know! Okay, but what are we gonna do now? Literally everyone here thinks we're dating now... what do we say?"

"I dunno... I suppose we could just go along with it for the rest of the retreat. I don't really feel like saying we lied to everyone, and I  _know_ that that girl will come after us if she hears." Dan suggested and my eyes widened. I hadn't expected him to suggest we actually keep this going. 

"Okay... yeah we could... what would that mean?" I asked hesitantly, realizing that this could be a  _really_ bad idea. Then again, Dan and I were ridiculously close and I had no doubt we could fake like we were together for about a week. People already thought we were, it couldn't be  _that_ hard. The trick would be making a believable breakup later that wouldn't leave people suspicious of why we were 'still friends after'. 

Dan seemed to be thinking the same thing because the next thing he said put my mind at ease. "We could always just tell people we've been trying it out. That we'd both been single for a long time and there'd been  _so_ much speculation about us that we decided to give it a go and see if we've both just been missing something, and be okay with it if we end up deciding to be friends instead. Then we can just tell people in a month or so that it didn't work out but we're still friends and hopefully it'll be believable enough." 

"You're brilliant." I murmured at the ceiling. 

"So... it's settled? For the rest of the retreat... we're dating?" he asked and I shrugged, laughing a bit.

"I suppose so." I agreed and we both laughed, making our way to the bathroom to brush teeth, then changing for bed and climbing into our respective beds, flicking off the light.

"Night Dan." I mumbled into my pillow.

"Night,  _boyfriend._ " he teased, and I laughed helplessly into my pillow, because god this was a strange circumstance to be in, but I was glad it was with Dan. As long as I remembered it was just us, everything would be fine. 


	2. Chapter Two

I woke up with a groan and stretched as long as I could get, my fingers and toes trying to separate from my body in opposite directions, pulling me so my fingers rested on the headboard and my toes hung over the edge of the bed. 

"I'm hungryyyyyy..." I whined, slumping back down to relax on the bed for a moment before grumpily pushing up and off the bed to go look for clothes to change into for the day. 

"Me too." Came a mumbled agreement from the lump of blankets on the other bed. 

"Well get up and get dressed, let's go down and get some food." 

"But I'm comfyyyyy can't you just bring me food back?" The lump whined.

"I'm not bringing you food back. We're going out and talking to the other YouTubers, that's the point of this whole thing!" 

"But I don't like talking to people."

"Wow, thanks." I said sarcastically.

"You're different. You're not people."

"Thanks?"

"Mhm."

I got changed into a simple pair of dark jeans and a short sleeved button up with little foxes on it. I decided to just wear my glasses today, not wanting to deal with contacts, then went over and began shaking the lump.

"C'mon, get up!" 

The lump moaned and flipped over, and then part of the blanket was pulled back and I saw Dan's annoyed face squinting up at me. The grumpy face was immediately replaced with a sleepy and contented smile, teeth flashing and eyes squeezing shut.

"You're wearing your glasses!" Dan's voice was high pitched and excited and I chuckled, nodding as I began prying the blanket out of his grip to get him out of it and up for the day.

"Yeah, didn't want to have to put in contacts today." I responded in passing.

"Nerd."

"Hey! I thought you liked my glasses!" 

"I do! You're a good nerd. A special nerd." I rolled my eyes at him as he finally climbed out of the blankets. "You're  _my_ nerd." Dan said with sarcastic affection, pulling me into a condescending hug which I wormed out of quickly. 

"Alright, alright, get dressed or don't come near me, I'm so hungry I might just take a bite out of your shoulder!" 

Dan chuckled as he pulled on jeans and a tshirt, and then we were heading down to the common area to get some food.

"Oh hey guys!" Came a familiar voice from the buffet line, and I looked up to see Joe Sugg scooping some scrambled eggs onto his plate. 

"Hey Joe." Dan responded as we both got our own plates and began making our way down the line, Dan opting for a savory breakfast while I went with waffles and strawberries and syrup. 

"Congrats by the way." he said warmly, nodding at us in approval, and then turned and left.

"Thanks?" I responded, turning to Dan with an eyebrow raised.

"What was that about?" I asked and he shrugged. 

"Maybe moving? I dunno."

We got our food and headed to our table. Along the way Tanya Burr stopped us quickly, smiling at us. 

"I'm so happy for you two, congratulations, we're all so happy." She smiled, and we both nodded our confused thanks.

"What was...  _oh._ " We both seemed to remember at the same time, then looked at each other with wide eyes. 

"Dan let's go back to the room, we have to get our stories straight." I hissed and he nodded as we rushed off and up the elevator back to our room with our food. 

We plopped down on the chairs by the small table in our room and started eating, thinking hard about what to do.

"I completely forgot." I admitted, chewing on my waffle.

"Me too." Dan agreed.

"So... what are we gonna say? We can't get anything wrong... we need to be on the same page." he nodded, and we got to work carefully constructing a story and going over every detail we could think of to make our stories match based on any question we could possibly get. Just as we were nearing the end of our conversation, there was an angry knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Dan called back, starting to get up and head to the door.

"Louise." The voice came back flat, and Dan and I looked at each other with wide eyes and then sighed, realizing we were about to get a long lecture. 

Dan continued to head to the door, then seemed to think of something and quickly rushed to my bed and made it so it looked like it hadn't been slept in. I nodded at him, and then he went to the door and opened it, gesturing for Louise to enter. 

"Come on in." he invited, and a very angry Louise stormed into the room.

"You two have some serious explaining to do." She said sternly as Dan took his seat at the table again, and we both looked down at our plates to play nervously with our food. Being scolded by Louise felt like being scolded by your mother, and it made you feel like you were about five years old. 

"Um... about what?" I stuttered, knowing full well what she wanted an explanation for.

"How long has  _this..._ " She pointed a finger, waving it between us to indicate us as a unit, "been going on?"

"Uh... about two months." Dan responded, not looking at her. We'd decided two months was safe, it still kept it fairly new and people wouldn't be expecting us to be super comfortable in the relationship yet, it gave us an excuse for not telling  _anybody,_ and when we 'broke up', it'd be more realistic that we were able to stay friends. 

"Two  _months,_ and you haven't told me?" Louise practically shrieked, and we both flinched back.

"We haven't told anyone, Lou. Not even our parents." I said quietly, and this seemed to get through to her as she huffed and sat on the edge of Dan's bed, thinking. 

"Okay... well I'm annoyed that you didn't tell me, but I'm happy for you two."

"Thanks." Dan said with a small smile, still staring intently at his food.

"So how'd it happen?" she asked, and I grinned because it was my job to tell this story, and I'd gotten Dan to agree to one that was funny to me, convincing him to let me embarrass him since he was the one to get us into this situation in the first place, acting like my boyfriend to ward off that girl.

"Well... Dan had apparently been getting into more...  _creative writing_ lately." I said with a grin and Dan blushed, throwing a grape at me in annoyance which I giggled at and popped in my mouth.

"You've been reading fanfiction?" Louise asked in giggly shock and Dan hung his head.

"Just a bit, I was just... it's made by our fans and it's super creative, I feel like I should be supporting..."

"Wait wait wait." Louise interrupted him. "You're not just reading fanfiction... you're reading _phan_ fiction? As in with a 'ph'?" 

"Yeah I mean... anyways... Phil just continue the story please." Dan pleaded, cheeks ablaze and I smiled at him, deciding to go on to save him the embarrassment of this story.

"So anyways, we'd both been feeling lonely, neither of us has had a relationship in ages, it's just not that easy with what our fanbase is like..."

"Yeah..." Louise agreed, prodding me to continue the story.

"So one day Dan came up to me with his laptop and shoved it in my face and told me to read it. It was a phanfiction, a short one basically just about us realizing that we were the most important people in each other's lives and we had been for years and that we dreamed of a future together, and the realization that all this together generally led towards romance prompted our counterparts in the story to try out a relationship and it worked out and they were happy. I asked Dan why he wanted me to read it, and he was all embarrassed and just shrugged, asking me if I thought that maybe the story versions of us had a point. At first it was weird, but then we got to talking about it and it actually made a lot of sense. By the end of the day we'd decided to go for it, and so I guess this is kind of all just a trial run for us. That's why we hadn't told you about it, because we're still not sure." Louise nodded, eyes a bit wide at the story. "We're taking it slow, but we both really love each other and we're just trying to figure out if that love can become romantic." 

"And how's it looking so far?" She asked with raised eyebrows after a moment.

"Really well I think." Dan said with a soft smile, making eye contact with me as he reached over the table to hold my hand, then looking back at Louise whose gaze had been completely wiped of anger and now was replaced with warmth and happiness.

"I'm so happy for you two." She smiled, then pulled us to our feet and into a group hug where we all started giggling a bit. 

"Alright well I'll leave you boys to eat in peace, sorry for interrupting."

"It's okay, Lou." I responded, smiling at her as she left, clicking the door shut.

Dan and I turned to face each other and smiled.

"That went well." He grinned and I nodded.

"Yeah, it did."

"The hand hold wasn't too much?" 

"No, not at all. We already agreed on it, I won't tell you something's okay if it's not." I stated simply, because hand holding was something we'd both agreed was allowed for this thing we were doing. We were allowed to sit close, hold hands, touch legs, hug, put arms around each other, and maybe even give each other cheek kisses as goodbyes if it felt right. None of this seemed to weird to me, I'd been living with Dan for years, it wasn't like we were uncomfortable around each other. Sure we weren't together, but we'd cuddled several times when it was cold or we were watching a scary movie, or maybe one of us was just a bit sad and the other wanted to comfort them. We were very secure in our friendship, and cuddling and physical closeness wouldn't be a problem at all, the only thing that was new about it was that now we were doing it in front of people. 

We finished our breakfast and began brainstorming what to do today, deciding eventually to head to the game room and spend the day playing classic board games. 

We made our way there, getting tons of congratulations from familiar faces along the way, and halfway there Dan shrugged and took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. Once we got there we decided to play Monopoly and I just grinned and watched as Dan lost his shit, knowing full well how intensely competitive my best friend was. Eventually I allowed him to win and we cleaned up. At that point it was time for lunch and we headed back to the buffet, loading our plates high and then heading to a table, where immediately Tyler was swooping in. I drew in a breath, knowing that what was coming was probably going to be much more invasive than the interrogation Louise had given us.

"Hello my boys, how are you doing?" He chirped with an evil and knowing grin.

"Good, thanks Tyler." I responded with a small smile.

"So.... tell me everything!" 

I recounted my story to Louise almost word for word, but at the end Tyler let out an exasperated sigh. 

"Okay so you're going slow, but how far  _have_ you gone? How real is this all?" he asked with a dangerous glint to his eye.

"Tyler!" Dan exclaimed in shock, but Tyler just shrugged, keeping his eyebrows raised in question.

"Uh... well we've kissed..." I started, thankful that we'd thought of this already and put together our story. 

"Is that all?" Tyler asked, almost in disappointment, and I shook my head.

"No... uh no we've um... we've used our hands to help each other, but nothing more than that really." I said quickly, cheeks burning as I stared at my plate. 

"Oh my poor boys, you need to bump it up a notch!" Tyler leaned over to me with a loud whisper that Dan could obviously hear. "Don't you ever wonder what that massive mouth of his could do?" He asked with a wink, and I saw Dan's eyes go wide as he blushed. I looked over at Tyler in shock.

"Tyler!" I scolded, but Dan had composed himself a bit and now had a smug grin on his face.

"I dunno Phil maybe he's right... I do have some special skills." he said with a wink at me and my jaw dropped.

"Anyways, so." Tyler stated, changing the subject. "What's the conclusion? Are you gay? Bi? Pan? Something else? Still working it out?" he asked quickly and both Dan and I relaxed, because this was the one question we wouldn't have to lie about.

"Bi." we both said in unison, knowing that this was true for both of us. 

"Well I'm proud of you two. Congrats, and if you ever need any pointers..." Tyler said with a departing wink.

"Wow." I gaped at Dan, who was just chuckling a bit.

"I dunno, I think that went pretty well." He shrugged and I sighed, returning to my food. 

"What do you want to do tonight?" I asked after a while, realizing my normal evening of a movie and food in bed wasn't possible, since there were no TVs. 

"Uh... I don't know. We could go back to that bar if you wanted. If it gets too crazy we can leave."

"Sure yeah... it looked like there was a lounge off of it, maybe that'll be a bit more relaxed." I agreed.

"Sounds good. Relax in the room until then?" I asked, and he nodded. We made our way to the room, plopping down on the beds.

"I really wish we could watch something right now." Dan grumbled after a while and I sighed in agreement.

"Me too. Hey, what if we tell stories instead?" 

"Okay yeah... sure I guess... though I don't think either of us have any stories the other hasn't heard."

"Then let's tell stories we already know... it'll pass the time at least."

"Okay?" Dan asked skeptically.

His skepticism was put to rest soon enough, though, as we began telling stories of adventures we'd had together since we'd met all those years ago, and we were both giggling and then full out belly laughing at our past selves, amazed at how much fun just reminiscing could be. 

"I love our friendship." Dan mused after a while, laying on his back and smiling up at the ceiling.

"Me too." I agreed.

"No, really though." Dan started, rolling over on his side to look at me, seriousness in his tone now and I rolled on my own side to face him. "I'd never had a best friend, or really even any close friends until I met you. I don't know where I'd be now if it wasn't for you... thank you. We've really come so far together... I can't really believe it." 

"Me either." I said with a soft smile, wishing we weren't on separate beds, too far away to reach forward and hold his had comfortingly. I couldn't from all the way over here, though, so I just laid there and gave him a sweet smile, hoping it'd convey that same reassurance a squeeze of the hand would. 

"I'm gonna take a nap. We can head down to the bar tonight, okay?" he said after a while, and I nodded, closing my eyes as well because a nap sounded good. 

"Okay." I agreed, drifting into sleep where I dreamt of actually buying a house with Dan, getting a dog and having a garden. It was a wonderful dream. 


	3. Chapter Three

When I woke up and checked the time, I almost decided to just continue sleeping and skip the bar for tonight. Almost. 

I pulled myself out of bed at 10:27, grumbling to myself as I pulled on appropriate 'party clothes'.

"Dan... hey Dan, wake up." I murmured, bumping his feet with my hands through the duvet. He groaned in his sleep and pulled his knees to his chest to remove his feet from my reach. I sighed and walked up to his side, sitting halfway on the edge of the bed as I reached up to put my hand on his shoulder, shaking him slowly and gently. 

"Dan..." I whispered as his eyes fluttered open, taking a moment to settle on my face.

"Mmmmngh...." he replied.

"It's time to get up, let's go downstairs and head to the bar." I continued to whisper, unsure why I wasn't talking normally now.

"Buuuuhhh 'mmmm cozyyyy herrreee..." Dan whined.

"Come on, Dan, the point of this whole thing is to see people we never get to see otherwise, we can sleep later."

"Phil I don't think you understand.... just how comfy I am right now." Dan said, seriousness taking over his expression as he widened his eyes for effect.

I sighed, standing up and reaching forward to take his hand, tugging gently to help him off the bed. Instead of allowing me to help him, though, Dan pulled on my arm aggressively, causing my eyes to shoot open as I was tugged forward onto the bed, collapsing halfway on top of Dan. I began to crawl off, but Dan physically maneuvered me down next to him, pulling me tight against him and throwing the duvet over me.

"See? See how cozy this is?" Dan whined into the crook of my neck, resting his chin on my shoulder from behind as his arms squeezed around my waist, our legs molded together, bent slightly at the knees.

"Dan..."

"Just five more minutes?"

I sighed, because as much as I knew we  _should_ go down and socialize, Dan was right. It  _was_ ridiculously comfy here, and a big part of me just wanted to lie here forever. 

"Fine. Five minutes. But that's all, and once those five minutes are up you can't argue with me, okay?"

"Mmmmm you're the best, Philly." Dan murmured, nuzzling his face even deeper into where my neck meets my shoulder, his nose brushing my collarbone. 

I took in and then let out a deep sigh, pressing farther back into his body as he pulled me closer, drinking up each other's warmth and comfort. 

I let my mind wander, and eventually began thinking of this whole pretend 'relationship' thing we had going on, and I actually started giggling. 

"What?" Dan asked sleepily into my neck, making me curl my neck away from him, giggling more intensely as shivers ran through me from that spot on my neck. 

"Hey! That tickles!" I scolded through my giggles. 

"Ooh, it does? How's this, Philly? Do you like this?" Dan teased, pressing his face back into that spot, and sure enough the soft brush of his lips and the puffs of air against my neck and collarbone made me squirm, eventually flipping around so we faced each other now, reaching up to hold him back slightly by his shoulder, but not enough that our bodies came disconnected. 

"Stop it!" I demanded, still coming down from my giggles as Dan dramatically sighed.

"Fiiiineeeeee..." 

I let go of his shoulder and he wrapped his arms back around me, squeezing me in tight as my thigh made its way between his legs. 

"But really, what were you laughing at?" he asked, his forehead now resting on my shoulder. 

"Oh, I was just thinking about this whole fake relationship thing and how comfortable we are and how we cuddle. If anyone walked in right now we'd have no trouble convincing them." I chuckled and Dan shrugged, smiling into my shoulder. 

"Well of course not. We have the  _best_ bromance of the century!" He pulled his head back, beaming at me. 

"We seriously seem so much like a couple right now." I laughed and he did as well, shrugging.

"It's because I love you, Philly!" he teased, announcing it dramatically. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"  he declared in a ridiculous voice, craning his neck down to bury his face into the side of my throat, pressing his lips forward and blowing a messy raspberry as he shook his head quickly back and forth like a dog.

"Get off me, you weirdo!" I laughed uncontrollably, shoving his face away but he was straight back, blowing a slobbery raspberry into my neck which made me squirm.

"Hey, five minutes has passed!" I shouted as a plea for escape, noticing the clock on the wall. 

"I love you, I love you, I love you!" he chanted, grinning as he ignored my question, still making a mess of my neck, attacking me from alternating sides as I tried to crane my neck or squish it down to get away from him, tingles rushing through me as I got tickled from his rippling lips. 

"I love you too, but get off me you oaf!" I laughed with a final shove, getting him to disconnect from me,falling away from me on the bed. 

"Alright, you got your five minutes, let's head down."

"But Philly, I was having so much fun!" Dan whined and I shook my head with a warm smile on my face. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know you just  _love_ watching me squirm." I rolled my eyes as I stood up, wiping the saliva from my neck and underchin.

"I do!" He beamed innocently as he got up, changing into party clothes as well. "Fineee let's go."

"Thank you, Dan." I said in a sing-song, sarcastic voice. 

"Only for you, Philly." He responded, linking our arms as we left our hotel room, making our way down to the lounge connected to the bar. 

We saw several familiar faces on the way, saying hi and accepting congratulations as they saw our arms still linked. We made our way to the bar and each ordered fancy drinks, deciding to say fuck it and get those yummy strawberry daiquiris we both secretly loved with the fruit poking out of them, retreating to the lounge to sip slowly and hopefully enjoy a more relaxed side of the party. 

There was a pool table where Hank and John Green were shooting back and forth, several couches with people lounging around. Zoe and Louise were playing karaoke in the corner, and on the other side of the room there was an open DDR game. 

Dan and I made our way to one of the less populated couches in the corner, sitting down and sipping on our drinks, content to crowdwatch and not necessarily directly interact, at least for a while. 

Within about twenty minutes Tom had found us and sat down. I smiled because I enjoyed Tom's presence, he wasn't overwhelming like some of the other YouTubers could be. Both Dan and I appreciated him immensely because when cameras  _were_ around, he wasn't intentionally trying to vlog all the time and catch us as much as possible, something nearly every other YouTuber did, and it was obvious. We'd try not to be annoyed by it, but it was so clear when YouTubers were trying to catch 'candid' moments of us for their vlogs, because they knew it'd bring views. 

"Hey." Tom greeted us, sitting down, a glass of water in his hand. That was another thing I liked about Tom, he was safe to be around at parties because he didn't drink, so you always knew you could rely on him to be sober. 

"Hey Tom." Dan smiled, and I saw as Tom's eyes flicked down to our hands. We'd given up on the linked arms as we'd sat down, opting instead to lace our fingers together and rest them on our touching knees.

"So... how'd this happen?" he asked and I blushed. We recounted our story and he nodded, shrugging and smiling by the end of it.

"Well, I'm happy for you two. I hope it all works out." 

"So do I." Dan said warmly, flicking a shy glance up at me through his eyelashes, and once again I was struck with how good an actor Dan was, causing my blush to darken a shade. I hid my blush by ducking down and taking another sip of my drink, sucking the sweet mixture into my mouth, and realizing suddenly that I'd drank it fast and it was already gone. My gaze flicked to Dan's and his was as well.

"I'll be right back." I announced, standing and taking the glasses to the bar, returning with two fresh ones, handing one to Dan.

We each drank two more, and soon we were both efficiently tipsy, giggling more often than not, blushes ever-present on our cheeks. This is why, when Tyler came in and proposed a game of truth or dare, we both said yes without hesitation.

The group ended up being as follows: Dan and I, Tyler, Zoe, Louise, Joe, Alfie, Conner, and Caspar. Tyler started.

"Alright, Conner!" he shouted excitedly as we all settled down into a circle on the ground, sipping drinks as we watched the game go by. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare, I'm not a wimp!" Conner said confidently and Tyler smirked. 

"I dare you to go lick Lily Singh's ear!" Tyler shouted excitedly, pointing at Lily on the other side of the room. Conner huffed a sigh and went through with the dare, rewarded by a shocked and laughing Superwoman as she got the explanation for why a tongue had just invaded the side of her head. 

The game continued on, people answering sexual questions, completing sexual dares, and making sexual comments. Finally it was Caspar's turn. 

"Dan, truth or dare?" 

"Dare!" Dan replied and my eyes widened, because generally we were both the people to tend towards truths, they were easier and less humiliating, not to mention that if either of us had to do a bad dare and it got on camera we'd be screwed. Though I remembered that cameras weren't allowed here and shrugged, listening to see what Dan's dare was.

"I dare you to kiss Phil! The world's been waiting so long for this, we've gotta see it!" 

"Well that's a boring dare, Caspar, they're already together it's not like it's a challenge." Louise remarked and Caspar shrugged.

My eyes had gone wide as I looked at Dan, who came down to sit next to me and leaned in close.

"It's just a kiss." he whispered and I nodded, feeling the alcohol flood through my veins as the movement of my head from nodding caused my vision to blur slightly. 

One of Dan's hands rested on my knee as the other came up to cup my cheek and neck, leaning forward and giving me one last eyebrow raise to which I responded with a light nod, before closing the distance and pressing our lips together lightly. 

His lips were warm and soft, and I felt my drunken self lean into the touch, reaching up to hold his waist, moving into the kiss rather than leaving it at a simple peck, which no one could have said didn't fulfill the dare. Dan moved back against me, the kiss deepening slightly. It wasn't heated, it was more sleepy and relaxed, melting into each other as we found our rhythm. We finally pulled apart, eyes wide as we looked at each other, then quickly looked away as the group began to speak.

"Wow guys, he just said kiss, not visually impregnate us all!" Tyler guffawed and my blush rose back to my cheeks, a bit surprised with myself. 

"Uh... I think I'm gonna head to bed." I announced, getting up on shaky legs.

"I'll come with." Dan agreed, standing next to me.

"One kiss and you already have to rush off together?" Caspar joked and my eyes widened.

"No! No I mean I just... I drank a lot, we're not..."

"Come on, Phil." Dan laughed softly. "Let's just go."

"Have fun! Use protection!" Tyler shouted after us and Dan rolled his eyes with a small laugh, helping to lead me to the elevator since he was a bit more sober than me. 

We made our way up the elevator and fell into the same bed, snuggling close together as we had been earlier, my thigh between his legs as we faced each other. 

"You kissed me!" I half exclaimed, half scolded.

"Hey, you kissed me back!" 

"Only because it was a dare! And I'm drunk! And you have really soft lips." I shot back, watching Dan's eyes widen as he blushed at the last one. 

"Okay Philly, I think it's time to get some sleep." 

"MMmmmkay..." I mumbled, hiding my face in the crook of his neck, to which he flinched back a little.

"Hey, watch the neck!" Dan giggled, and I smiled, pressing further into the soft skin there.

"Night, Dan." I whispered against his neck, my lips brushing the skin there as I felt him shiver.

"You're cruel."

"You love me."

"Night, you spork."

"Night."


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you all so much for reading/commenting/etc :) I'm honestly so amazed and honored to have formed such a strong community here and watching it grow makes my heart sing :) <3 Thank you all for being so supportive, every single hit, comment, kudos, bookmark, subscription, etc is appreciated and noticed and just thank you so much <3

I woke up to loud knocking at the door, groaning as I untangled myself from Dan's limbs. He whined in protest, reaching out to pull me back and I laughed, swatting his hands out of the air as I approached the door and then opened it to reveal Tyler and Connor. 

"Good morning." I smiled, feeling optimistic since there seemed to be no traces of a hangover and for that I was beyond relieved. 

"Morning." Connor smiled as Tyler pulled both of them into the room and I followed after shutting the door.

"Morning, Dan!" Tyler enthused and I felt a little bad when I saw Dan wince and raise a hand to his head. I quickly slipped into the bathroom and got a glass of water and then pulled out an ibuprofen, returning to the conversation and handing them to Dan who nodded and took them gratefully. 

"So what do you say?" Tyler practically squealed at Dan, who I could tell probably hadn't even heard Tyler's suggestion.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying to cover for Dan as I sat down next to him on the bed, Tyler and Connor sitting on my bed which had been left untouched last night. 

"There's a tiny little island just a little bit away. We have kayaks, I was saying that we should take them out to that island and bring some drinks and a picnic! Spend some time just the four of us! You know... maybe it'll be something of a double date." Tyler winked at the end, wrapping his arms around Connor who was blushing and my eyebrows raised to my hairline.

"You two?" I asked and Tyler nodded and removed his hands to clap. 

"Yeah! Last night!" 

Connor looked like he was about ready to climb under the duvet of my bed to hide so I tried to calm his nerves by just being supportive, smiling warmly.

"Congratulations you two. And uh... sure, Dan are you up to going to that island?"

"Ughhhh okay. Just give me a bit to get ready."

"We'll leave you alone to have some nice sleepy morning sex, don't worry! Meet us in the common area downstairs in an hour?" They got up, making their way to the door. "See you then!" Tyler finished, not giving us time to respond as he shut the door behind them. I turned to Dan with a small laugh.

"So... we're going on a picnic today I suppose."

"We have to kayak? Phil.... that's exercise!" I sighed and shook my head with a smile at Dan, prodding his shoulder.

"Yes, and we could both use more of that. Now get up and get dressed, okay? You look like a frazzled bear cub." 

"There are worse things to be." 

"True, but you smell like rum."

Dan sighed as he got up and I returned to my own suitcase, picking out an outfit that suited the warmer weather, shorts and a tshirt. I turned around to see Dan sporting the same type of clothing, but he had added his rhinestoned baseball cap and I couldn't help smiling as I shook my head at him.

"You're ridiculous."

"Hey, I look  _sexy._ "

"Okay Dan."

"What? Do you not think I'm sexy?" Dan struck a ridiculous pose, his hands behind his head, elbows up as he turned his back to me and stuck his bum out, looking back over his shoulder and batting his eyelashes.

"Oh so sexy." I agreed sarcastically. "It's taking everything I have not to pounce you right now." 

"You couldn't get me if you tried, Lester."

"Sure I couldn't." The sarcasm was dripping now.

"You think you could actually land  _me?_ " Dan asked incredulously and I raised my eyebrows in challenge.

"Oh I could get you any second of any day. I could have you begging at my feet." 

"I'd like to see you try." he shot back and I raised my eyebrows again, this time only half challenging and half surprised. 

"Well maybe you will someday. If this whole pretend relationship thing goes on... maybe I'll just have to see just how much I can get out of you." and I had pulled everything off so smoothly until that point, but then I made the fatal mistake of trying to wink. Instead, both my eyes just blinked hard and Dan erupted into laughter, shaking his head at me. 

"You're hopeless, Lester." 

"Shut up! Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast. I need my morning pancakes."

We made our way downstairs, loading up our plates from the buffet and finding a quieter table in the corner. Thomas and Dodie found us after a while and we chatted lightly with them, but mostly stuck to our food. Once we were done we checked the time and saw that it was just about five minutes until we were supposed to meet Tyler and Connor so we put away our trays and looked around for them. Sure enough we spotted them and went over, allowing ourselves to be led outside and to a spot where several kayaks lay. 

"We'll take one and you take the other." Tyler instructed as he handed out life vests to us all. I put mine on and then tried to tighten it in the back, but I couldn't quite reach.

"Here, I got it." Dan said, coming behind me to tug on the black cord as I watched Tyler and Connor do the same for each other. I made my way to Dan's back after he helped me, and I helped him tighten his life vest as well. 

"I have a bad feeling I'm going to be very grateful for this vest at some point today." Dan mumbled and I elbowed him. 

"We're gonna be fine. Tyler said it's not far away and the water's calm, we're not gonna fall in."

"Whatever you say..." Dan replied, but he didn't seem convinced. 

We waded into the water with our kayaks, and I was pleasantly surprised at the warmth of the water down here. Once we were knee deep in the water, we got into our kayaks. When Dan got in second the kayak tipped a bit, but it leveled out as he held his arms out to either side, eyes wide in panic. I chuckled as I handed him his oars, and we began paddling behind Tyler and Connor. 

"See? It's just right there!" Tyler pointed with his oar, and I looked to see a small island and sure enough it was probably only about three hundred feet or so away. It wouldn't be that hard of a trip. It was also truly tiny, not even really an island, more of just a grassy rock. It had probably about ten trees on it, and wasn't much bigger than Dan and I's hotel room. 

We paddled towards the island and Dan and I had a hard time getting our rhythm down of rowing together, but we figured it out eventually, and soon enough we were stepping out of the kayak and dragging it onto the sand of the island. 

"My arms feel like jello." Dan whined as he dropped the oar into the kayak. "Fuck you." he addressed the oar, and I giggled. 

"Alright boys, let's have a picnic!" Tyler exclaimed as he pulled out two bags. He opened them up and removed the contents, laying down a large blanket for us all to sit on, following it with tons of snacks as well as several bottles, some containing wine and some containing harder liquors. 

We plopped down on the blanket and I smiled as I saw Connor blush when Tyler leaned back against him, but Connor put one arm around Tyler and my heart warmed at just how sweet they looked together. I realized suddenly that Dan and I were sitting a bit apart and he was still sulking, so I reached out and pulled him towards me, positioning him to lean on my shoulder as Tyler did on Connor's. Dan groaned in protest but allowed himself to be moved, and eventually relaxed into the position. 

"I hate you all for making me exercise." he grumbled and I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up, you love us." 

"Okay I love you. I'll forgive  _you._ I hate them." Dan glared at Tyler and Connor as I laughed and gave them each a look that told them that Dan was only joking and of course he didn't truly hate them. They didn't seem to be concerned, though, laughing it off already. 

"Well Dan, maybe we can win your love back with sandwiches, chocolate, and wine?" Connor suggested, and I looked down to see Dan's eyes flick from the ground up to Connor.

"I'm listening."

We all laughed as Connor handed out the food and Dan sat up straight as we tucked into our sandwiches, drinking rosé wine from the little plastic cups Tyler gave us all. 

"So.... how was your night?" Tyler asked us with a wink and I blushed, knowing immediately what he was implying.

"Um... it was good. Just... calm." I responded quickly, trying to make it clear that there had been no sex involved. 

"Phil wouldn't stop talking about how soft my lips are." Dan smirked and I looked over, mouth and eyes wide in shock as I slapped his shoulder lightly.

"Hey!" 

"I said I'll forgive you for making me come out here, but I can still get my little bit of revenge."

"You two are too cute!" Tyler exclaimed and I blushed again, looking down at the blanket. 

"And how was  _your_ night?" Dan asked, and I glanced up to catch his wink at Tyler and Connor, who were now blushing as well.

"Uh it was..." Connor started, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.

"It was  _hot_." Tyler supplied the ending to the sentence and Connor looked up at him with a scolding look in his eye, to which Tyler just shrugged. "What? It was!" 

"So wait... did you guys get together last night?" I asked and Connor nodded shyly. 

"Yeah uh... I mean we've hinted at it before, but it became official last night."

"And in one night we've already beat you two! Seriously, when are you gonna finally buckle down and have sex?" Tyler asked and my face flushed the color of the wine I was drinking. 

"We're taking our time, Tyler, not everyone has sex on the first night like you." Dan shot back and Tyler shrugged.

"It's more fun my way." he said, and Connor laughed a little in nervous agreement. 

The rest of our day passed this way, mostly just embarrassing each other as we all snacked and drank, and by the time the sun was setting we were all fairly tipsy and we turned to face the sunset, laying down on the blanket. 

I smiled a bit as I saw Connor curl up against Tyler, putting one leg over Tyler's knees as he nuzzled into the crook of his neck, peeking his eye out to see the sunset as Tyler leaned his head down against the top of Connor's. I turned my head to look at Dan and see that he was also looking at them, and then we made eye contact and both shrugged lightly at the same time, resulting in light giggles due to our synchronicity. 

"Come here." I whispered and Dan nodded, scooting forward to curl into my side, eyelashes tickling below my jaw as his leg came up to trap mine against the ground. I sighed and relaxed into the new position, deciding on a whim to twist my neck and plant a soft kiss atop Dan's hair, to which he hummed in appreciation, causing a satisfied smile to spread across my lips. 

We lay there in silence for a while and I got lost in the shifting colors of the sky, until soft noises made me look over to see that Tyler and Connor had started to kiss and I looked away towards Dan immediately, feeling as if I was intruding by looking at them. His gaze came up to meet mine, and something about our proximity, the way we'd seemed to have been taking our cues off of Tyler and Connor all day for how to act as a 'couple', and the alcohol running through our veins caused us to both lean in at the same time and my eyes closed as our lips connected softly, moving gently together as warm tendrils raced out from my lips and through my body, making me feel more alive than I had in a long time. 

We kissed slowly and lazily, and I didn't even really stop to think about how this wasn't really part of our agreement, how we weren't  _actually_ together. I didn't even think about how this was our first proper kiss, because it didn't feel like it. It just felt easy... right... so instead of thinking at all, I just allowed myself to melt into the kiss and enjoy its warmth as one minute passed, then two, then three or maybe even four before we finally broke apart and Dan nuzzled back into my shoulder, humming warmly. 

I sighed and smiled, placing another kiss atop his head, and watched as the sun finally dipped completely under the horizon. 

"We should probably head back before it gets too dark." Connor suggested and Tyler nodded as they both began to pack up, leaving the blanket for last since Dan and I hadn't moved yet. Once they were done they came to look down on us. 

"Are you two coming with or should we just leave you here? Hey beach sex, not the worst way to have your first time!" Tyler grinned and I was honestly tempted to just sleep here on this blanket, not having to drunkenly kayak back to the mainland, but I knew that was an awful idea so I groaned as I stood up and then helped Dan to his feet as well. 

The trip back was hell. We were all tipsy and exhausted, but somehow we managed to finally get back and pulled the kayaks onto land before making our way back to the building and returning to our respective rooms. 

Slipping into our room, Dan and I both pulled off our clothes from the day and changed into pyjamas, both opting for just sweats with no shirt, as it was very hot here. 

There was no discussion of sleeping arrangements as we both fell into Dan's bed, wrapping our arms around each other as we pulled close. We pulled each other so close, in fact, that we ended up nose to nose and I smiled as we both tilted our heads to kiss briefly before I reached back to flick off the light. 

"Night, Dan." I whispered, and smiled again when I felt soft lips press against mine.

"Night." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I end so many chapters in my fics with dnp saying goodnight, but the ends of days seem like good markers for the ends of chapters :P oh well


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically just an entire chapter of Dan and Phil cuddling and making out. *shrug*

I woke up to an intense pounding in my head, groaning and constricting on the warm flesh I was wrapped around, clinging to it for dear life. The flesh hugged me back as I kept my eyes squeezed shut and nuzzled into it, wanting to escape the pain in my skull.

"Mmmm no more drinking." the flesh groaned and I nodded in agreement, smiling as it kissed the top of my hair gently. 

"No more." I agreed, sighing eventually as I decided it'd be worth the bit of effort to get painkillers. I pulled back from the flesh, who after opening my eyes I decided to name 'Dan', stumbling to my suitcase and pulling out painkillers, returning to the bed and grabbing a water glass from the nightstand. 

Dan and I both took our meds and then I crawled back under the covers, returning to his embrace to wait for the painkillers to take effect. 

It felt like it took hours, but in reality it was probably about ten minutes before the pain began to dull. 

"Fuck drinking." Dan mumbled and I chuckled into his bare collarbone, nodding. 

"It was a fun night, though. That island was pretty." 

"Yeah... it was a fun night." Dan agreed and I smiled, humming contentedly into the warmth and comfort of his skin. 

"I really wish we had a TV so we could just lie in bed and watch movies all day." Dan murmured after a while and I shrugged with a small smile.

"We could lie in bed all day anyways. We don't need a movie." 

Dan pulled back to look down at me, his eyebrows raised in a question.

"Really? But I thought you were the one who wanted to take advantage of this time to see people we usually don't get to see." 

"I know... but we can do that tomorrow. Today we could just order room service and lay in bed and nap all day." my brain still felt a little fuzzy from the night previous as I looked up at Dan through my eyelashes, pleading with him to have this day in bed with me.

"Alright, you know... I'm down, but who knows if our friends will let us? I'll do it... we can try... but don't tell me I didn't warn you when Tyler comes bursting in with airhorns and streamers, dragging us to some crazy party." Dan said with a grin and I shrugged, smiling as I nuzzled back into the crook of his neck, his chin resting on top of my head.

"Okay." I agreed. "Just so long as we try. And if we  _do_ get dragged to a crazy party tonight... let's not drink, okay?"

"Deal." He said, and when I felt the kiss atop my hair I tilted my head up with my eyes closed, smiling when I got what I wanted, his soft lips gently connecting with my own. 

We kissed slowly for a while, but eventually my neck began to hurt from craning upwards, and I giggled as Dan wrapped me in his arms and pulled me up on the bed so we were at the same level. I got lost in the smile in his eyes, the fleeting question in my head of _what we were doing and what this meant and why we were doing this_  flew away as quickly as it arrived, erased by the crinkles around Dan's eyes as he grinned, and I pulled him back towards me, resuming our gentle kiss. 

My arms came up around Dan's neck as his found my waist and we kissed softly, pulling apart between the sweet and gentle kisses, smiling as we relaxed. 

"This is nice." I whispered after a while, and Dan nodded, kissing me on the tip of my nose, causing me to giggle.

"It is." he agreed. 

"Is it weird?" I asked after a few more kisses, a small frown creasing my forehead. He, however, simply continued kissing me, shaking his head slightly into the kisses, speaking between them. 

"I think it's only weird that we haven't done this already." he whispered and I allowed my frown to disappear, melting into his embrace.

The day passed slowly. We broke apart eventually to order room service and ate, but we were quickly back into bed and lazily making soft explorations of each other's mouths, fit together like two puzzle pieces. 

We didn't talk about it. We didn't talk about what it meant or what this was or how it could affect everything once this vacation was over, but it didn't feel like we needed to. It just felt right, so every time my brain began trying to justify and put a label onto what was happening, another soft kiss from Dan would erase that need, realizing that it wasn't necessary and all we needed right now was each other's touch, because it was just right and easy. 

It was about 1pm when we both drifted off, falling asleep in each other's arms, just for me to wake up three hours later to kisses being peppered over my face and jaw, giggling as I woke up, pulling Dan in for a deeper kiss to stop the jaw kisses that were verging on my ticklish neck. 

"You're cute." he grinned as he pulled back to look at me, and I felt a slight blush rise at the compliment.

"Thanks." I looked up at him through my lashes. "You're beautiful."

"Ah, Lester, always having to one up me, aren't you?"

I just shrugged at this, tilting my head to press a quick kiss to his cheek. 

It was just then that there was a timid knock on our door and I sighed, frowning slightly at Dan.

"Shhhh, just act like we aren't here!" He whispered to me and I rolled my eyes at him, shaking my head as I got out of bed and pulled on a shirt, making my way to the door and opening it. 

On the other side of the door stood a timid Louise, arms wrapped around herself as she quickly brought them up to wipe tears from her eyes, not meeting my gaze. 

"Louise! What's wrong?" I asked immediately, looking back to see Dan quickly pulling on a shirt and coming up to meet me. 

"Uh... nothing really... I'm just having a hard day and... I didn't know who to talk to. Can I come in?" She spoke through a tightened throat, the ends of her words being clipped off by soft sobs. 

"Of course, of course!" Dan and I chorused, leading her in and all three of us sitting down on my untouched bed. 

"What happened?" Dan asked gently and Louise let out a tearful laugh, shrugging.

"It's ridiculous, nothing really happened, I just... I miss Darcy." she admitted and both Dan and I softened, making our way to either side of her, wrapping our arms around her in a comforting hug. 

"I had to leave her at home and I know she's fine and she's being taken care of, but I just... I miss her." Louise cried, and I bit my lip as I rubbed comforting circles on her back, unable to imagine what it'd be like to leave your kid alone for a week.

"I'm so sorry, Louise." Dan spoke softly, "But she'll be there the minute you get back, and she'll be so happy to see you!" 

Louise nodded with a small and grateful smile.

"Thanks, guys. I'm sorry, I'm a mess, I just started crying and couldn't stop and I didn't know who to talk to." 

"You can always talk to us. We're always here for you, Lou." I said, and Louise began to laugh, poking my ribs which surprised me.

"You made a rhyme!" She giggled and Dan and I both chuckled, shaking our heads.

"So..." she started, wiping her eyes of the last stray tears. "How have you two been? I heard you went out to that little island with Tyler and Connor yesterday?" 

"Yeah, we've been really great." I smiled, looking over to Dan who was looking back at me with so much fondness in his eyes that I felt like I was melting under his gaze.

"Yeah... really great." he agreed, moving around the bed to my side and hugging me from behind, planting a quick kiss on my neck, making me giggle. 

"So when's the wedding?" Louise asked and I laughed, shaking my head.

"Aw, come on Louise, it's not even real." I chuckled, then my eyes widened as I realized what I'd said.

"What?" she asked with her eyebrows raised, and I felt Dan stiffen behind me.

"Oh uh... sorry um... Dan I guess should we tell her?" I asked, craning my neck to look at Dan over my shoulder.

"Yeah okay... just promise you won't tell anyone else?" He directed his question at Louise who nodded her agreement.

"So... we're not actually together." I stated simply, watching as Louise raised one eyebrow suspiciously. "There was this girl who was hitting on me the other day and wouldn't take no for an answer so Dan acted like my boyfriend to get me out of it, but then everyone was seeing us 'together', so we decided to make this story that we're trying out a relationship." I explained, but Louise still didn't seem convinced. 

"So... you two are just friends?" she asked, eyes flicking between me and Dan who was wrapped around me from behind, chin resting on my shoulder.

"Yes." I affirmed, unsure as to why this seemed so strange to her.

"From what I heard you two were making out on the beach next to Tyler and Connor yesterday... was that just 'as friends'?" 

"I mean... we wanted to make it realistic." Dan explained and Louise shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever you say."

"What?" I asked, and Louise began to laugh, only adding to my confusion.

"I don't know what's going on between you two, but I know that what you are right now certainly wouldn't be labelled as 'friends'. Good luck, though. I'm sure you'll get it all straightened out. Though maybe that's not the right term..." she mused, making her way to the door. "Tell me how it goes once you've gotten it all figured out!" she shot us a wink and then was gone, leaving me extremely confused as I leaned back against Dan, wondering what she could have meant. 

"Well that was odd." I observed once she was gone, shrugging it off and going over to the phone to order some room service. We ate and then brushed our teeth and curled up back in Dan's bed, once again in only pyjama bottoms. 

"I love you." I smiled into a kiss, feeling warmth flood through me at Dan's embrace and the gentle pressure of his lips against mine.

"I love you too." he murmured, and we kissed lazily, enveloped in each other's arms until we both drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments below!! :D <3 Comments make my day every time I read them, whether they're questions, support, or criticism, I love it all <3 Thank you <3


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you all, thank you for everything <3

I woke up slowly, rubbing my eyes and pulling myself into a seated position despite the murmurs of protest and weakly grasping arms trying to pull me back within their grip. 

"I've gotta shower." I whispered, leaning down to kiss the hair above Dan's ear, smiling as he glared up at me for leaving him cold and alone in bed. "I'll be back soon." I promised with a chuckle.

Emerging from the bathroom fifteen minutes later, I was surprised to see Dan up and awake, waiting for his turn in the shower. He passed by me, pausing where I was to plant a quick kiss on my lips, then heading in to turn the tap on. I took off my towel and re-dressed in clothes for the day, deciding that we'd really make an effort to spend time with people, since today was our last day here. We were flying home tomorrow, leaving this place behind us.

As much as I was excited to return home, part of me wished we had a few more days. Sure I missed the internet and my phone and movies, but I was having fun here. I was having fun here, and maybe just a little part of me didn't want to say goodbye to whatever this new thing with Dan was. I tried not to think about it, deciding to just enjoy it for what it was right now, and to make sure we had a fun last day.

Once Dan was out of the shower and dressed, we laced our fingers together and made our way downstairs. We shoveled food on our plates and decided to ignore our antisocial tendencies and actually sit at the big table in the middle for a change. 

We sat next to Louise, Zoe, and Alfie. We chatted for a while, hands linked the whole time. I was very grateful that Dan was left handed and I was right, because it meant we could both comfortably use our forks with our dominant hands, while still holding hands in the center. 

I only half listened to the conversation, focusing more on the delicious buttery and syrupy pancakes I was shoveling down my throat, only somewhat aware of the debate over whether ice creams should have scents infused into them so they smelled like perfume. To me that sounded disgusting, I don't really like that artificial sweet scent of perfume, but I didn't throw out my own opinion, opting instead to stuff myself until my plate was empty and my stomach full, groaning and leaning my head on Dan's shoulder in exhaustion. 

I looked up to see Louise looking at us, shaking her head with a small, knowing smile, and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Why did it seem like she knew something we didn't? She looked away, though, and I didn't have a chance to ask. 

After breakfast we all made our way down to the beach. We spent the day talking to different YouTubers, actually finally networking for once during this whole thing, setting up some future collab plans and reconnecting with people we hadn't spoken to in a long time. 

Eventually the sun was setting and we all ate dinner, and Dan and I allowed ourselves to get dragged to that night's party, reminding ourselves that tomorrow we'd be heading home and we'd regret not spending our last night with the people we never got to see. 

The music was loud and everyone was tipsy within minutes, Dan and I both sipping a bit slower, but still feeling more bubbly than usual. After a while we made our way to the lounge room because the music was just a bit too much, and found ourselves hopping around on the DDR mat within minutes. Dan beat me but I didn't care, giggling as I tried my hardest to make my limbs cooperate, jumping from arrow to arrow. 

Eventually more people made their way into the lounge, and soon we were sitting in a small circle. Everyone was drinking and giggling, sharing embarrassing stories and confessing to small crimes they may have committed at some point or another in their lives. 

Dan and I were mostly silent, holding hands and sipping drinks as we observed the rest of the group. 

Inevitably the conversation changed to a game at some point or another, and I couldn't even really seem to keep track of the game, as one minute people were doing dares, the next minute it seemed to be would you rather, and a second later people were taking sips after other people explained the things they'd never done. 

The game had no structure, it was just drunk people being self-destructive, wanting to share their most embarrassing secrets and wanting to be made to do ridiculous things, but needing an excuse. 

Dan and I didn't really participate, mostly just observing, but when I was dared to kiss someone I immediately turned to Dan, pressing our lips together. We stalled in the middle, then began to move, minds spinning from the alcohol, forgetting that there was a group of people watching us. Our tongues got acquainted and I heard some nervous laughter, reminding my foggy brain that people were watching and waiting for us to be done. I didn't stop kissing Dan, but opened one eye to look around, seeing everyone blushing as they uncomfortably watched us, then began to turn back to each other, deciding to just move on with the game. My gaze landed upon Louise at one point, and she actually roller her eyes at us, but she had a small smile which only confused me more.

I decided not to think about it and instead just continue this kiss because it felt good, and Dan's hands were wrapping around me now and there was no way I was going to stop that. 

I didn't know how long we kissed, but soon we were leaving the group and returning to our room, and the kiss began to get more lazy as we stumbled towards the bed, slipping under the covers and continuing to move our lips together until the movements slowed and eventually I felt soft breaths escaping his lips as his breathing turned to light snores. I smiled and tucked into his side, allowing sleep to take over, feeling warmer than ever. 

* * *

I woke up to kisses and smiled, melting into Dan's touch. We kissed as we woke up and then I groaned, looking at our suitcases. 

"We have to leave today." 

"Yeah, I know." he agreed, and I felt a rush of sadness overwhelm me as I realized all this between us would have to stop when we returned. I sighed and got up, putting everything back in my suitcase. 

The trip to the airport was quick, and soon we were on a plane and Dan was asleep on my shoulder. I took out my phone and logged into twitter, informing the internet that we were back, responding to a few replies before leaning my head atop Dan's and allowing myself to drift off too. 

Slipping into our apartment, I was truly feeling regretful. I couldn't believe I hadn't gotten in one last kiss. One kiss goodbye to our little island vacation, one last connection to take with me before we returned to the real world and to our non-kissing friendship. 

This was the thought that left me with a frown on my face as I sat on the couch, and I saw Dan notice this as he approached me. I got ready to tell him 'I'm fine' when he asked what was wrong, but the question didn't come. 

Instead Dan leaned in and pressed our lips together lightly. My eyebrows raised as he pulled away, and now I was the one to ask a question.

"Dan... why'd you do that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" he asked in confusion, and I tilted my head to the side.

"Because we're back home. All that was just on the island."

"Why?" he asked again, and I began wracking my brain for the answer which felt obvious but I somehow couldn't put into words. 

"Because... well because it's not like that... with us. I mean it's not like you're in love with me." 

"That's exactly what it's like." he responded calmly, sending my brain into a tailspin.

"What?"

"That's exactly what it's like. I'm in love with you."

"Oh." was all I could think to say, taking this new information in and realizing what it meant. 

"So...?" he asked, looking up at me with question in his eyes.

"So... I suppose we don't have to stop then." I said with a shrug, pulling him back into a kiss.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a slightly strange fic and it may feel weird to some of you. To explain, my entire goal with this fic was to match the title, "It's easy with you". I didn't want any angst, and I wanted the transition to a relationship to be seamless with no real huge 'realization' or gigantic monumental moment. I wanted it to be easy... so sorry if it felt anticlimactic, I just wanted it to be a fluffy and sweet fic :) 
> 
> Tumblr: mollieblackwrites


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